House GOP moves to oust Ilhan Omar from Foreign Affairs Committee

WASHINGTON — House Republicans are readying to oust Rep. Ilhan Omar, D-Minn., from serving on the House Foreign Affairs Committee as early as Wednesday, fulfilling a pledge years in the making.

After GOP leaders were able to secure enough support for the resolution that also condemns Omar for past antisemitic remarks late Tuesday, the House Rules Committee quickly approved a rule that sets the parameters for debate on the House floor ahead of a final vote. The rule will be voted on Wednesday, but final approval remains uncertain, given that the House has yet to formally establish which lawmakers will make up the Foreign Affairs Committee this term.

Republican leaders have worked for weeks to ensure that there were enough votes to pass a resolution removing Omar from the committee through their razor-thin majority margin, which stands at three as Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., remains away from Washington recuperating from a traumatic fall. Opposition to the effort emerged last month as four lawmakers signaled that they wouldn’t support the measure, citing concerns that it would continue a precedent set by former speaker Nancy Pelosi (DCalif.).

But the inclusion of a provision in the four-page resolution, that Republicans argue provides due process to Omar, seems to have appeased at least one crucial voter, as Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) announced Tuesday that she would now support the measure. Reps. Ken Buck (R-Colo.) and Nancy Mace (R-S.C.) have publicly suggested that they would vote against it before the resolution’s text was released Tuesday, while Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-Fla.) has said he remained undecided. Republican leadership aides, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to outline private whip counts, said they have the votes to pass the measure whenever Democrats

formally appoint Omar to her committee.

House Republicans had set their sights on removing Omar after she had made what Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) recently described as “repeated antisemitic and anti-American remarks” throughout her four years in office. The resolution, if adopted, would explicitly condemn Omar for using an antisemitic trope to suggest Israel’s allies in U.S. politics were motivated by money rather than principle in a 2019 tweet that read, “It’s all about the Benjamins baby.”